VISAKHAPATNAM: District Collector Vinay Chand on Wednesday has directed an inquiry and a five-member technical committee was constituted to probe the matter related to the fire accident at the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) refinery in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.

The Committee which comprises experts in the field of oil and natural gas and engineers will analyze the risk in CDU-3 part of the refinery and the possible causes of the oil leak.

IIPM will also conduct technical and safety inquiries along with Andhra University Chemical Engineering experts. Collector Vinaychand said that a report would be received within a week. Production is continuing as usual in all the other units except CDU-3 where the fire broke out, the Collector said.

As per HPCL Tweet, on Tuesday afternoon, a fire broke out in one of the crude processing units of HPCL’s Visakha Refinery at 3 pm on 25th May 2021. Safety measures & fire fighting were called for immediately. The fire has been extinguished. There was no casualty and all people were accounted for and safe. There was also no risk to the public. Other Refinery operations were continuing as normal, it stated.

It is to confirm that there is no casualty. All people are accounted and are safe. Fire is extinguished completely. Except the particular unit where fire occurred, all other process units of Visakh Refinery are operating normally.@ANI @PTI_News @PetroleumMin @dpradhanbjp https://t.co/1icZz1kgLZ
— Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (@HPCL) May 25, 2021